Google has unveiled the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) at the National Retail Federation conference, positioning it as a foundational step in enabling AI agents to manage the entire shopping journey—from product discovery and checkout to post-purchase support. Developed in collaboration with major retail and commerce platforms including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, the open standard is designed to simplify how businesses and AI agents interact, replacing fragmented, one-off integrations with a shared, interoperable system.
At its core, UCP allows merchants, platforms, and AI agents to connect through a common framework that supports complementary standards such as the Agent Payments Protocol, Agent2Agent, and Model Context Protocol. This approach is intended to make agent-led commerce more scalable, secure, and consistent across ecosystems, while giving retailers greater flexibility in how they engage customers through AI-powered interfaces.
“This is one of the really exciting parts about agentic,” said Shopify CEO and founder Tobias Lütke. “It’s really good at finding people who have specific interests and finding the product that is just perfect for them. Like, I would have never searched for this product, but somehow it found me right on the other side. This kind of serendipity is where the best of commerce happens.” Alongside its work with Google, Shopify also announced a similar conversational checkout integration with Microsoft Copilot, signalling growing momentum behind AI-led shopping experiences.
Google said UCP will soon be available for eligible product listings in AI mode across Google Search and the Gemini apps in the United States. Shoppers will be able to complete purchases directly using Google Pay and saved Google Wallet credentials, with PayPal support planned for a subsequent rollout. The company is also introducing the ability for brands to surface real-time discounts during AI-powered product discovery, blending promotions directly into conversational shopping flows.
For merchants, the protocol opens up new tools such as branded Business Agents in Search and access to Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Companies including PayPal, OpenAI, Lowe’s, Michael’s, Poshmark, and Reebok are already expanding their AI commerce strategies within this evolving ecosystem. Together, these moves underline Google’s ambition to make agent-driven commerce a mainstream, end-to-end retail experience.
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